CONCERTS THAT ROCKED

Springsteen for $3

by Joshua Unikel '07

If there’s one concert
that everyone remembers
or wishes they
remembered—it’s
Springsteen. “My
favorite musical
memory was when
Bruce Springsteen
and his band,
including Clarence,
played in the Geneva
Theatre (Smith
Opera House),”
says Janet Behrend
Livingston ’74. “His
fan club wouldn’t
even fit in there now.”
True, but before he
became “The Boss,”
Springsteen tore the
roof off the 1500-capacity
theater on Seneca
Street in the fall of 1973.
And even after making it
big, Springsteen still came
back to our beloved,
lake-side city to play two
more shows that were
just as memorable as
the first.

“We saw great
concerts during the
Seventies, including
three shows by Bruce
Springsteen and the E
Street Band…for about
$3-4 a ticket,” says Hal
Whitehouse ’77.

Before Springsteen
left for bigger tours
and brighter lights, he
left those who saw him
play at that first Geneva
Theatre (Smith Opera
House) show with a night
they’d never forget, a
night that was especially
unforgettable for Bruce
Eaton ’74. “Three or
four weeks before homecoming,
everything was
set for John Sebastian
to play,” explains Eaton.

“Posters were up and
all the plans were made.
Then he cancelled. So I
called this agent I’d been
working with to book
shows, Wayne Forté. He
was booking for acts like
Bowie at the time and
told me about this guy,
Springsteen, who Forté
said was the best live act
he’d ever seen.”

“Springsteen was
$2000 as a headliner,”
Eaton explains. “And
Forté said that if I didn’t
agree with him about
Springsteen, he’d give me
my money back. Although
Springsteen had only released
one album by then,
‘Greetings from Ashbury
Park,’ there was a vibe
there that told me that I
had to book him—and I
couldn’t lose; the agent
said he’d give me my
money back!”

But Eaton did have
something to lose if his
headliner didn’t show.
“After the opening act,
the James Montgomery
Band, played their set
and an encore, and their
equipment came off the
stage, Springsteen and his
band were nowhere to
be found,” says Eaton. “I
was backstage with the
roadies, who were even
getting nervous, joking
that Springsteen and his
band were probably in a
ditch somewhere.”

“Then—all of a
sudden—a Sixties station
wagon came barreling
down the alley behind the
theater with Bruce and
the entire E Street Band inside,” Eaton says. “They
all piled out, ran into the
theater and tuned up. Just
before they played, I was
out in the alley talking to
Clarence from the band,
telling him about bands that
I’d booked and how I wasn’t
sure about the show.”

“He just looked at me
before we headed inside
and said, ‘You ain’t seen
nothing yet, kid,’” Eaton
says. “They opened their
set with this really long
ballad, New York City
Serenade, and the crowd
was getting really restless,
having waited so long and
hearing this really mellow
tune. But by the fourth
or fifth song, the entire
place was going bonkers. I
remember asking myself,
‘How come this guy isn’t
the biggest thing in the
world?’”

As Springsteen did become
one of the most influential
musicians in history,
he still came back to grace
the same Geneva Theatre
(Smith Opera House) stage
twice more.

“The HWS Concert
Committee booked him to
come back in December
1974,” Eaton says. “As
he started to gain fame,
Springsteen used small
shows like the ones in
Geneva to warm up during
his big tours. Springsteen’s
management booked him
into the theatre for the
second show of the Born
to Run Tour in July 1975.
HWS kids from across the
Northeast came back in the
middle of the summer for
the show. How the building
survived that night, I’ll never
know. Talk about explosive
– when he came out it was
like bombs going off.”

In the years after his last
Geneva stop, Springsteen’s
stardom fizzed
then exploded, making
him “the Boss” that we
all now know. Whether
we remember or wish
we recall those pivotal
Springsteen shows on
Seneca Street, one thing
was for sure according
to Eaton, “After the first
show in ’73, HWS was
Springsteen crazy.”

French Toast with Little Feat

by Joshua Unikel '07

“Tim Yolen, class of ’72, told me about this band, Little Feat, that he loved,” says
Bruce Eaton ’74. “I bought a promo copy of one of their albums for a dollar and
wore it out all summer. The next year, Tim booked the original quartet of Little Feat at the
Geneva Theatre (Smith Opera House) one winter for $750. It was an incredible event.”

But for Yolen, then a member of the HWS Concert Committee, the night of the show
didn’t go exactly as planned. “Little Feat showed up in the worst snowstorm that winter,” he
explains. “They were slated to take the stage at 8:00 but didn’t get through the snow and to
the theater until 11:00.”

Little Feat put on a great show and the audience soon forgot about the band’s late arrival, but those who
attended that night didn’t know what was going on with the band afterward.

“After the show, none of us could get them back to their hotel,” Yolen says. “We were all college students
driving junkers! So we took them back to someone’s apartment on Pulteney Street where we all had a great
time hanging out with the band. In the morning, we made batches and batches of French toast before taking
them back to their hotel, where they ended up being snowed in.”